There are two competing pictures of science. One considers science as a system of inferences, whereas another looks at science as a system of actions. The essays included in this collection offer a view which intends to combine both pictures. This compromise is well illustrated by Szaniawski's analysis of statistical inferences. It is shown that traditional approaches to the foundations of statistics do not need to be regarded as conflicting with each other. Thus, statistical rules can be treated as rules of behaviour as well as rules of inference. Szaniawski's uniform approach relies on the concept of rationality, analyzed from the point of view of decision theory. Applications of formal tools to the problem of justice and division of goods shows that the concept of rationality has a wider significance. Audience: The book will be of interest to philosophers of science, logicians, ethicists and mathematicians.

There are two competing pictures of science. One considers science as a system of inferences, whereas another looks at science as a system of actions. The essays included in this collection offer a view which intends to combine both pictures. This compromise is well illustrated by Szaniawski's analysis of statistical inferences. It is shown that traditional approaches to the foundations of statistics do not need to be regarded as conflicting with each other. Thus, statistical rules can be treated as rules of behaviour as well as rules of inference. Szaniawski's uniform approach relies on the concept of rationality, analyzed from the point of view of decision theory. Applications of formal tools to the problem of justice and division of goods shows that the concept of rationality has a wider significance. Audience: The book will be of interest to philosophers of science, logicians, ethicists and mathematicians.

Examines the conceptual nature and basic principles of information.

Mounting failures of replication in social and biological sciences give a new urgency to critically appraising proposed reforms. This book pulls back the cover on disagreements between experts charged with restoring integrity to science. It denies two pervasive views of the role of probability in inference: to assign degrees of belief, and to control error rates in a long run. If statistical consumers are unaware of assumptions behind rival evidence reforms, they can't scrutinize the consequences that affect them (in personalized medicine, psychology, etc.). The book sets sail with a simple tool: if little has been done to rule out flaws in inferring a claim, then it has not passed a severe test. Many methods advocated by data experts do not stand up to severe scrutiny and are in tension with successful strategies for blocking or accounting for cherry picking and selective reporting. Through a series of excursions and exhibits, the philosophy and history of inductive inference come alive. Philosophical tools are put to work to solve problems about science and pseudoscience, induction and falsification.

Exploring Education for Digital Librarians provides a refreshing perspective on the discipline and profession of Library and Information Science (LIS), with a focus on preparing students for careers as librarians who can deal with present and future digital information environments. A re-examination of the knowledge base of the field, combined with a proposed theoretical structure for LIS, provide the basis for this work, which also examines competencies for practice as well as some of the international changes in the nature of higher education. The authors finally suggest a model that could be used internationally to educate librarians for their new roles and social responsibilities in a digitised, networked world.The twelve chapters of this book cover key issues in education for digital librarians, including: the necessity of regenerating the profession; current contexts; previous research on education for digital librarians; understanding the dimensions of the discipline and profession of librarianship, and the distinctions between them; the social purpose of librarianship as a profession and the theoretical framework which supports the practice of the profession; a brief analysis of curriculum design, pedagogies and teaching methods, and a glimpse of the proactive and important future role of librarianship in society. - Considers the ubiquitous misunderstanding that technology can replace libraries and librarians - Provides a theoretical view of the field which can contribute awareness of dimensions of the dilemmas which the discipline/profession currently faces - Presents a broad international perspective which provides a basis for a new model for LIS education

Knowledge-Based Intelligent System Advancements: Systemic and Cybernetic Approaches presents selected new AI–based ideas and methods for analysis and decision making in intelligent information systems derived using systemic and cybernetic approaches. This book is useful for researchers, practitioners and students interested intelligent information retrieval and processing, machine learning and adaptation, knowledge discovery, applications of fuzzy based methods and neural networks.

The Western Devaluation of Knowledge is an exploration of the causes and effects of Western cultural changes that have evolved during the past half millennium of industrialization to diminish the value of knowledge as process. Western culture has developed a conceptualization and valuation of knowledge that reverses the traditional knowledge continuum that connects data (information) to understanding. As a result, we displace the subjective and human features of knowledge with automated systems that conforms with information and devalues the knowledge process. This book explains this change as a result of the industrial influences that began to gain strength in the 15th century and continued on that path through today’s economic and cultural globalization. The author shows that science and technology, while bringing good on many fronts have also: Weakened or replaced traditional sources of cultural authority, Advanced a materialistic outlook; Hastened the broad spread of capitalist values, principles, and strategies; Fostered a pervasive dependence on technological innovation; and Nurtured an extreme rationality. Osburn shows that while any one of the above cultural currently would have been sufficient to cause deep and generalized change, their confluence was the deciding inspiration for a different epistemology, one that has altered the generally accepted meaning and valuation of knowledge.

Believing the wrong thing can have drastic consequences. The question of when a person is not only ill-guided, but genuinely at fault for holding a particular belief goes to the root of our understanding of such notions as criminal negligence and moral responsibility. This book explores the conditions under which someone may be deemed blameworthy for holding a particular belief, drawing on contemporary epistemology, ethics and legal scholarship.

“The influence of [Kazimierz] Twardowski on modern philosophy in Poland is all-pervasive. Twardowski instilled in his students a passion for clarity [...] and seriousness. He taught them to regard philosophy as a collaborative effort, a matter of disciplined discussion and argument, and he encouraged them to train themselves thoroughly in at least one extra-philosophical discipline and to work together with scientists from other fields, both inside Poland and internationally. This led above all [...] to collaborations with mathematicians, so that the Lvov school of philosophy would gradually evolve into the Warsaw school of logic [...]. Twardowski taught his students, too, to respect and to pursue serious research in the history of philosophy, an aspect of the tradition of philosophy on Polish territory which is illustrated in such disparate works as [Jan] Łukasiewicz’s ground-breaking monograph on the law of non-contradiction in Aristotle and [Władysław] Tatarkiewicz’s highly influential multi-volume histories of philosophy and aesthetics [...] The term ‘Polish philosophy’ is a misnomer [...] for Polish philosophy is philosophy per se; it is part and parcel of the mainstream of world philosophy – simply because [...] it meets international standards of training, rigour, professionalism and specialization.” – Barry Smith (from: “Why Polish Philosophy does Not Exist”)

This book discusses the paradigm of quantum ontology as an appropriate model for measuring cognitive processes. It clearly shows the inadequacy of the application of classical probability theory in modelling the human cognitive domain. The chapters investigate the context dependence and neuronal basis of cognition in a coherent manner. According to this framework, epistemological issues related to decision making and state of mind are seen to be similar to issues related to equanimity and neutral mind, as discussed in Buddhist perspective. The author states that quantum ontology as a modelling tool will help scientists create new methodologies of modelling in other streams of science as well.